A Burning Touch of Frost
by comicface
Summary: Brittany is a normal student, at a normal high school with normal friends. The only thing that separates Brittany is her unnatural kinship with the element of ice and a Latina that sets her world on fire when she reveals a secret agenda being plotted against their kind. Brittana AU.
1. Chapter 1

As the icy wind picked up its speed, slapping the streets of Lima with a relentless force, Brittany's senses began to alter. Her eyes went first, toning down the brighter colours of the world to ashy greys and blues. Then, her ears popped with the change of frequency but then honed in on the smallest crackling sounds that she hadn't noticed before. Her skin hardened but absorbed the brisk air, breathing it in through every pore to the point that there was no difference between the glacial elements and Brittany.

Brittany never understood why when she was engulfed in nothing but harsh winter weather she thrived but every other living thing around her withered. She never understood why the flowers that usually proudly adorned every garden on her street would rather wilt and die from the demanding gelid gusts of December than stand up and face them. Embrace them. Allow them to fill them and gift them with the power she felt coursing through her right now.

She wondered this as she slowly sauntered down her street on her way to school. Her father had repeatedly asked that she take his beat up 1982 Camaro that for some reason he was desperately trying to get her to fall as deeply in love with as he had but the only thing she felt that much irrational personified love for was Jack Frost. She loved being surrounded by him and she was going to have to be stuck in school for the next seven hours, cooped up in an artificially heated classroom with 30 other people complaining that it wasn't hot enough, so she was determined to bask in his gift whilst she could.

Distracted by the wonderland around her, Brittany hadn't realised she had reached her destination and was walking through the school grounds until she felt the warmth of arms being wrapped around her from behind and a voice yell "Oi!"

"What the-", Brittany gasped, more so from the unexpected loud noise piercing her ear rather than the force of the embrace.

She brought her free hand up to take hold of the attacker's wrist and with ease, broke their grasp and spun out of their hold. She turned to see her best friend smiling at her with mischief twinkling in her eyes but a contorted face of pain from having her wrists at the mercy of Brittany's strength.

"Ahh fucking hell, Brittany, let me go. You're hurting my tiny, delicate lady wrists!" Jett protested in her broad Scottish accent but with a playful smile creeping up on her face.

Brittany laughed and released her friend whom instantly retreated her arm back to her chest and began to rub the 'injured' area dramatically.

"Well, you should know better by now than to try and take me on", Brittany said with faux seriousness. "You just end up embarrassing yourself."

"Eh excuse you, Pierce but it's not my fault that you're freakishly strong." Jett retorted.

"And it's not my fault that you're freakishly weak." With that said, Brittany turned on her heels and flipped her hair with emphasis and began walking towards the schools entrance. She heard her friend pick up pace and join her at her side.

"Bitch..." Jett chuckled, "What the hell are you wearing anyway? How the fuck are you not freezing?"

Brittany stopped walking, bringing her friend to a halt and looked down at her attire. She was wearing a simple pair of denim shorts with black tights, a black and white ¾ sleeved baseball top, combat boots and a beanie.

"What?" She asked confused.

"What do you mean what?" Jett asked with amused disbelief and gestured to her friend's entire being, "First of all, you're wearing shorts and it's as cold as balls. Secondly, you have forgotten a quarter of your sleeves and it's still cold as balls. But most importantly and this I ask with the utmost respect and shameless curiosity... Why the fuck do you have leg warmers on your arms you big, big dancing freak?"

Brittany laughed at her friends jested questioning but resumed her genuine confused state when she realised her friend actually wanted an answer.

"Well, first of all, I don't know why you are so shocked with the shorts. I wear shorts like fifty percent of the time and in case you didn't notice, I have accompanied them with a pair of tights. Secondly, you know I love my baseball tops so shut your mouth and finally, I am wearing leg warmers on my arms because, as you so gracefully said, it is cold as balls."

Jett laughed at Brittany's reuse of her tasteful simile and just shook her head at her quirky friend. They resumed walking towards the schools entrance and swung open the heavy fire doors when they reached the threshold to what they both referred to as 'Hell'. A wall of heat hit them as they crossed over and they pushed on through the crowd of students that occupied the hall. The familiar sound of adolescent chatter broke their deliberate isolation.

"And besides," Brittany continued, "You know the cold doesn't bother me. I'm actually quite warm. Too warm now, in fact."

"Okay, well then use your heat discomfort as incentive to remove the leg warmers",

Brittany feigned a hurtful gasp and pouted. "Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

"Absolutely, I am." Jett dead panned.

The two friends continued their friendly banter until they reached their lockers. Both occupied themselves with emptying the contents of their bags, keeping only the materials they needed for their first period. Just as Brittany was closing her locker and zipping up her bag, her attuned ears picked up a familiar sound. She turned her attention to the soft noise of rubber echoing in the hallway and at the very end of the corridor, she spotted a boy in a wheelchair. He had short brown hair, cut in the most efficient style so that it required little to no attention and completed his nerdy aesthetic. He wore a short sleeved white shirt with a colourful Christmas themed sweater vest and beige suit trousers with suede dress shoes. His buggy but kind eyes hid behind a pair of rectangular glasses and his mouth was stretched into a huge cheesy grin.

Jett looked up from her locker at her friend and saw the sweet smile she was wearing. She followed her eye line and spotted Artie Abrams.

"Ugh." She groaned. "I really don't understand why you waste your time with him. I mean he's sweet and all but then again so is antifreeze."

"Don't start. Please?" Brittany urged. She gave a small wave to Artie to signal him over. "I know you don't particularly like him but he's fun and he's intelligent and likes me as much as I like him. Which is more than you can say about most of the boys at this school."

"That may be true, Britt but you also said those exact same things about my neighbours golden retriever."

Brittany gave her a warning widening of her eyes but couldn't help but smirk slightly at her observation. Just as she was about to verbalise her warning, Artie pulled up in front of the pair.

"Hey boo," he beamed at his girlfriend. He ran his eyes over her and admired just how beautiful she really was. Brittany stood twice the height of Artie. Even if he wasn't bound to his chair, she would still have the height on him. She had long blonde hair that framed her face perfectly and complimented her crystal clear blue eyes. She had silky pale skin with the only blemish being a faint array of freckles across her nose and cheeks and a smile that was as dazzling as her dancing. Every inch of her was toned and muscular. She was the epitome of his idea of beauty. "You look absolutely amazing and adorable today."

"Why thank you," Brittany smiled and leaned down to place a soft kiss on his lips. "And you look as handsome as ever."

Artie blushed at her affection however his bashful moment was interrupted with the sound of someone gagging. "…And hello to you too, Jett."

"Yeah, hey there Abrams." Jett replied with only a slight hint of disdain. "Look, Britt, I need to go empty my bladder before it freezes over. Get you in class?"

"Yeah, I'll save you seat."

With that, Jett took off down the direction Artie came from.

"So was it something I said or the way I wheeled?" Artie joked.

Brittany chuckled and walked behind him to take the handle of his chair. "She's just a bit grumpy in the colder months. I think without her daily dose of vitamin D she gets cranky." She began pushing his chair in the direction of their first class.

"Is that a euphemism or..?"

Brittany snorted, amused at his comment, "We both know fine well that Jett has no problem with that kind of D. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if she abandoned us for a scheduled hook up under the bleachers."

Artie emphasised a deep sigh. "That lucky, lucky man."

With that Brittany slightly smacked the back of Artie's head.

"Owwww!" He complained but couldn't help but laugh through it

"Hey! You keep your eyes to yourself." Brittany warned.

"You know that you're the hottest girl at this school and the only one for me. But I am only but a man. I can't help but notice that Jett is one fine looking lady."

"Mmmhmm." Brittany hummed. She knew exactly what Artie meant and that he had no sexual or romantic feelings towards Jett but she enjoyed messing with him. It was part of why being with him was so fun and easy. They could joke around with each other and play pranks and neither of them took any of it too seriously.

Brittany turned the corner that took them to their first class – Maths. She pushed Artie through the classroom doorway and parked him at a desk in the middle row, next to herself. She then placed her backpack in the chair on the opposite side of her to save it for Jett. She and Artie engaged in some meaningless conversation about movies that were out in the cinema and whether or not they should attend Brett Turner's party this Friday. As Brittany was laughing at Artie's impression of the star football player, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned round, assuming it was Jett and was about to invite her to watch Artie's uncanny impression when she was met with the deepest and most intense brown eyes she had ever seen.

"Hi, sorry but I was just wondering if this seat is taken?" The girl with the eyes pointed to the seat that was occupied by Brittany's bag.

Brittany tried to reply but all she could do was sit there, staring at this strange new student, mouth agape and mind a blank. Her eyes were hypnotising. They were so warm and telling but not in a necessarily inviting way. It was like they had a fire lit behind them. A blazing scourge. A melancholy. But it wasn't just her eyes. As soon as Brittany had turned her attention to this Latina girl, she had been struck with an uncomfortable intensity of what she could only describe as chemistry. A feeling of recognition but fear. A sense of respect with important differences. None of this was based on anything that could be seen by the naked eye or verbalised into any sense. It was nothing based on any feeling Brittany had ever had. It was unworldly.

"Eh sorry, but its actu-", Artie began but was interrupted by Brittany's sudden burst to life.

"No! No, not at all. Here, sorry, I'll ju-just move my bag."

Brittany reached over and cleared the seat as quickly as she could. As soon as she had heard Artie begin to reject the mysterious girl, she all of sudden didn't want her to leave. Or couldn't make her leave. She wasn't quite sure. As much as she was scared of the 'power' this girl exuded, she needed to know what it was. She needed more than a few seconds to sort through the experience of being captured in her eyes and search all of her being for some form of explanation.

"Thanks. Sorry, I'm new and would really rather not sit up front. Teachers, I feel, have a tendency to try and welcome new students with as much eye contact as they can spare and at least from this seat I can dodge some of it." the girl light heartedly explained. She sat in the now empty seat and started organising her materials for the upcoming lesson.

Now that Brittany had broken free of the girls grasp, she tried her best to not make eye contact with her again. She politely chuckled at the girls joke but kept her head down and eyes fixed on an engraving on her desk. Part of her did want to engage the girl in further conversation, see if she could try and suss some answers as to who the girl was and where she came from and if she happened to have fallen into radioactive waste and this feeling was actually her being slowly poisoned to death. Except unfortunately and not surprisingly, the cowardly half of her won over.

"So, you're new? When did you start at McKinley?" Brittany heard Artie ask the girl as he leant forward in an attempt to see past her.

"Today is my first day, actually" The girl replied politely.

"Well let me be one if not the first to welcome you!" Artie beamed. "Where was it you moved from?"

"Well-", the girl began but the slamming of the classroom door broke the conversation and their attention was diverted to the man that just entered the room.

"Good morning, class," Mr Kroll said. "Can I have everyone's attention up front and on me? And that does includes you Brittany."

With the sound of her name being called, Brittany snapped her head up and smiled an apology at her maths teacher.

"Thank you." He smiled back. "Now, before we begin today's lesson, I would like to take a moment and welcome a new stude-"

The swing of the classroom door stopped Mr Kroll and caused him to greet Jett with disapproving eyes but a smirk of knowingness.

"Ah, Ms. York, so kind of you to join us. Should I write you up for this one of do you have an amusing anecdote to rescue yourself with?"

Brittany chuckled. She couldn't help but be amused at Jett's relationship with most of the teachers at their school. She was one of the brightest students they had and maintained an impressive grade point average whilst being one of the tardiest and most inattentive. But it wasn't her grades or her intelligence that made them all like her; it was just that she was so damn charming that they really didn't have a choice.

It didn't help that she had annoyingly disarming grey eyes and a smile so wide that it was like a pearly white net that ensnared anyone within its reach. Her long wavy brunette hair was always a little dishevelled but it added just that little thing that everyone found difficult to describe to her punky attitude and demeanour. She was slim but not as toned as Brittany. She wore black skinny jeans tucked into a pair of brown combat boots and draped over her small frame was her favourite band t shirt and chequered open shirt.

"To be honest, it's not even slightly amusing, Mr Kroll." Began Jett with a face that said she was truly feeling and meaning every word she spoke. "I went to go and de-urinise myself but for some filthy reason, the girls at this school have trouble getting their pee in the actual bowl. I sat down all unknowingly only to be soaked in some dirty middens lukewarm piss and it was disgusting and I cried and I had to go shower in the gym so I could remove the shame and disgust from my soul."

The class laughed loudly at Jett's story, being amused further by her over the top gesturing. Mr Kroll simply smiled and laughed softly. "Well that does sound like quite an ordeal, Ms. York. I'll let you off this time to avoid any further trauma. Now, please go find your seat."

With her dismissal, Jett turned in Brittany's direction and looked to the seat next her only to find it occupied by someone she had never seen before. Jett caught Brittany's eyes and mouthed "Who the fuck is that?" to which Brittany just shrugged and silently apologised. Having already been through hell in 'Hell', Jett just accepted that she wouldn't be sitting with her friend this morning and opted for a seat at the front. She went to sit down but dramatically shot back up and comically checked the seat to see if it was dry. The class erupted with laughter again.

"Calm down, Ms. York. That seat is just fine, I can assure you." Mr Kroll chuckled. With Jett finally settled into her seat and relinquishing the attention of the class back to Mr Kroll, he continued with what he was previously announcing.

"Now, as I was saying, we have a new student that has joined us here today all the way from Arizona. Can we please give our best Ohio welcome to Ms Santana Lopez."


	2. Chapter 2

'Santana Lopez', Brittany repeated in her head, 'The girl with the eyes is called Santana Lopez'.

For some reason, knowing her name comforted Brittany. It grounded the girl with the eyes, it humanised her a little. It made it so the girl sitting arm's length away, the girl who didn't feel like she was part of a world Brittany knew, a little more relatable.

That didn't mean that Brittany dared to look at her. She didn't know if she was afraid of Santana or if she was intrigued or if she just simply knew that in every sense of the word, she was no match. Whatever it was, her body and instincts were set to defence.

All she could do was watch her through her peripheral vision, only really detecting small movements from the Latina and knowing all she actually wanted to do was get up and run from her. That feeling was still looming between them. It was pressing in on her. Burning her. Taunting her. It was making the blonde sweat but not from any physical heat but from a nervousness and a disturbance it caused within her. She could feel her chest tightening and her limbs shaking. She could feel her breath growing shorter and sharper. Her vision started to become glazed, like a frost was creeping over her eyes. She could hear her heartbeat, Artie's heartbeat, every heartbeat around her... but not Santana's.

Brittany shut her eyes forcefully and tried to drown out the sound of everything she could hear around her. Mr Kroll's voice and his marker on the whiteboard. A students insistent grinding of their teeth. A knock on the door from outside the class and down the hall. But the most obvious sound, the most grating was a heated crackling. Like the popping of wood on a bonfire. Like the sound of flames licking the air, gasping for oxygen. Like a raging forest fire, taking the life of everything around it. Her breathing got worse. She could feel the air around her being sucked into this flame. This heat source. Her head started to pound with an icy jab. The hairs on her arms stood up and her teeth started to chatter.

In attempt to regain control, to calm her senses, Brittany clenched her fists and pressed them into her eyes but as she did so, she felt a soft crunch and a coldness in her palms. She took her hands from her eyes and slowly opened her fists and there, moulded into a ball shape of her fingers, was the light dusting of a snowy frost.

Brittany let out a fearful gasp. One that didn't go unnoticed by Artie. He looked over at his girlfriend and saw her staring confused into her hands. "Brittany?" He whispered with worry, "Are you okay?" She didn't respond. She just continued to shake and stare into her open hands. Artie leaned over to touch her arm but at his sudden movement, Brittany flinched away and balled her hands into fists again. She quickly tucked them under the desk and turned to Artie with an accidental threatening glare. She saw him retreat backwards, his hand slightly come up in a defence and a worried look dawn his face. His reaction confirmed it. She wasn't imagining this. There was something wrong. Something was happening to her and she needed to get out of here.

Drawing that conclusion, Brittany acted fast. She grabbed the bag at her feet and stumbled from her chair. She felt the eyes of her fellow students and her teacher fall on her. She felt the eyes of Santana more. But she didn't look up and she didn't explain. Without a word, she made a fumbling but effective move for the door. As she opened it, she heard the demanding tone of Mr Kroll's voice asking her where she was going. But she ignored it. She just needed to get out. She needed to get away.

She could feel the coldness building up in her hands again. She could feel it cling to her skin and to the material of her bag. And with that, she ran. She ran down the hallway she had previously turned out of and headed for the exit. She got to the fire door she had previously entered and with her free hand, she pushed the bar that unlocked the latch and used her shaking strength to open it fully. And then she noticed it. The spread of ice along the metal, originating from where her hand held it. It crept along, patterning it with delicate snowflakes, building its momentum with every second Brittany held on.

With tears falling down her face, she ripped her hand away only to have a spray of dusty snow fall all around her. She could feel the panic building, intensifying and that only seemed to encourage the blast of soft ice. She waved her hand violently, trying to shake off whatever was stuck to her but it didn't matter. The snow continued to shoot out of her palm with force, turning more and more into hard, shards of ice.

"What the fuck is happening?!" Brittany cried softly.

But she couldn't stop. Someone could see. Someone might see this freak show she was involuntarily performing. So she ran again. As fast she could, she ran across the school grounds and with every step she took, she could feel that pressured heat that had berated her, subsiding. And with that, so did the ice. Noticing this, she ran some more. She ran out until she hit the road and already she could feel her vision clear up. She ran until she could no longer see the building from which she just escaped and her hearing returned to its albeit not normal but comfortable frequency. She ran until she was surrounded by evergreens and by the chirping of wildlife and then she stopped.

She stood looking out into the columns of green that stood defiantly against the cold. She felt the brisk wind dance with the loose ends of her hair and the crispy cold air return to her lungs. She couldn't feel that threat anymore and she couldn't feel her body's violent reaction. All she could feel was a numbness, an emptiness. She could feel the stain of the tears that had fallen from her eyes so she reached up to wipe her face clean only to be met with a hard line of ice that had followed the journey of a tear drop to only take shape at the dip of her chin.

With a whimper, she picked the hard ice drop from her chin and laid it on her palm. She enclosed it in a fist and with all her might, squeezed and tried to melt it with her body heat. She held it until she thought enough time had passed and that the small rounded icicle would surely have disappeared, turning into a small puddle of cold water like physics dictated it should. With a silent hopefulness and a prayer to whomever was listening and to whomever could help, Brittany opened her hand and looked down. And there, square in the middle, just as perfect as before was a singular small tear drop made of ice.

With disbelief, she just stared like she had before and tried to suppress the panic that was beginning to rise again but before she could even begin to get a handle on anything she felt a small sting in the back of her thigh. A drowsiness washed over her, the dampness of the ground greeted her knees and then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Brittany?"

Brittany stirred at the mention of her name but didn't open her eyes.

"Brittany hunny, are you awake?"

Knowing that the voice was merely asking the question to signal that they knew she was, she reluctantly lifted her eyelids just enough and looked to her side to where her mother was perched on the edge of the bed smiling adoringly at her.

"Hmmmm" she hummed lazily and closed her eyes again. She rolled her head away to show that she wasn't quite ready to be awake to the world yet.

"What is it, Mum? I'm sleeping."

"I know, Snowflake but I just wanted to check in on you, see if you're feeling any better." Mrs Pierce cooed with worry, "How are you feeling?"

Confused at the unnecessary worry lacing her Mothers voice and the use of her pet name, Brittany groaned at the effort to sit up and face her mother. With a sleepy palm she wiped her eyes and tried to focus her vision into reality.

"What? What are you talking about Mum, I'm fine. Are you feeling okay?" She retaliated with a sloppy grin.

Her mother's face fell into a mixture of concern and her own version of confusion.

"Brittany... do you not remember what happened yesterday?" Mrs Pierce brought her hand up and placed it on Brittany's arm for comfort and squeezed to reassure Brittany of whatever it was she wasn't understanding.

"What do you mean? Of course I rememb-.." Brittany started but then realised she didn't. Why couldn't she remember yesterday? She remembered going to school and play fighting with Jett, kissing Artie when he told her she was beautiful and laughing at his impressions but then after that... there was nothing. No, not nothing. There was something. There was definitely something. Like a faded image of sorts that had been washed out and then tucked into the back of her mind. Like her subconscious had drowned it, buried it and held it under a wave of doubt, keeping it there till it could decide whether or not it should live. "I... I remember sitting in Mr Kroll's class but then after that there's nothing, like there wasn't 'a rest of the day'. I don't understand. What happened?"

Brittany looked into her mother's eyes and saw that they were glistening with tears. She took her Mum's hand that was squeezing her arm little too tightly and laced their fingers together. She tried to show on her own face that she was okay now. That whatever had transpired yesterday hadn't leaked over into today.

Sensing this, her Mother smiled sweetly and let out a soft breath of relief. "I don't exactly know what happened hunny and neither does the Doctor. But according to your teacher and your friends, you were fine and then about 10 minutes into the lesson you just took off running. You were found unconscious in the woods not far from your school an hour later. " With those last few words, a crack in her Mothers voice betrayed her calm facade and a treacherous tear tumbled down her face.

"I was?" Brittany asked with a whisper of disbelief.

"Yes. Artie said that the class started, and then he noticed that you were acting a bit strange. He said he reached over to see if you were okay and then you freaked out a bit, like you didn't know where you were or who he was or what was happening."

Brittany just stared past her mother, focusing on nothing in particular. She ran? Why? Why would she run? Where to or who from? Why would she freak out on Artie? She tried to dig past the blockage in her mind that protected the answers but it didn't move, it didn't flinch. It just sat there, teasing her with the possibility of being penetrated, secure in its evasiveness. She could feel herself getting more frustrated and scared, not because she was overly shocked at what she was being told, more so at the fact that it all felt so familiar yet she couldn't say why. She could feel the image tingling in her mind, rattling its watery cage, calling for her. Letting her know that there was truth in her mother's words and a secret in its keep.

Moments of silence stretched between them and Brittany just continued to stare. She could feel her mother panicking more and more with every passing second but she didn't want to break her concentration. If she talked or moved, the memory might sink further behind its wall and for some reason, she knew it was important that that did not happen. If she could just lure it in, bait it, convince it to grab the hook and hold on, then maybe she could reel it in and know it. But with a flash of a waving hand and a calling of her name, Brittany blinked and the line was broken.

"Snowflake, are you listening to me?"

Blinking a few more times to rehydrate her eyes, Brittany refocused her attention back on her mother.

"Huh, what? Sorry, I went into a little bit of a dwam there."

Mrs Pierce sighed and gazed off to the side. She opened her mouth a couple of times as if she was about to say something but couldn't quite figure out how to say it. Brittany waited patiently and prepared herself for whatever it was her Mother was struggling to communicate. She knew that it was either going to be the beginning of a very uncomfortable conversation or that her Mother was about to lecture her on something that every parent feels they must.

With one final guppy breath, Mrs Pierce turned back to her daughter with a seriousness Brittany had only ever seen a couple of times.

"Brittany, I'm only going to ask this once and once only. And the only reason I am asking is so that we have covered all ground." She said pointedly.

"Uhmmm... okay?" Brittany said expectantly. A disclaimer for an upcoming conversation always gave her the fear. The fear of an awkward, intimate moment that her parents had a habit of dropping her in and the fear started to get the better of her. She untangled her fingers from her mothers and used them to fidget with her bed covers. She averted her eyes to her bedroom door and prayed that this wasn't going to be as painful as the sex talk.

"Are you on drugs?"

It took just a moment for Brittany to register what she had just been asked but as soon as it was processed and her brain understood it, she couldn't help but let out an abrupt laugh. She looked back at her mother to see if the joke was playing on her face too but it remained sturdy in it sincerity which only made the question all the more amusing. Brittany couldn't help the uprising of giggles that burst out of her. She began to relax, realising that her Mothers needless build up had peaked and the fear was not to be feared at all.

"Brittany, this isn't funny!" Her Mother protested.

"Drugs?" Brittany laughed, "Mum, come on. You think I'm on drugs?"

"Well it is an explanation for what happened yesterday and for your behaviour and the Doctor wanted me to rule it out!" Her mother defended.

With her laughter subsiding and the need to sooth her Mothers worries, Brittany coughed to regain composure and took back her Mothers hand. "Mum, I'm not on drugs. I wouldn't even know where to get drugs. And even if I was going to do drugs, why would I do them at school?"

Mrs Pierce listened carefully and nodded at her daughters reasoning but maintained eye contact. Brittany knew she was searching for any hint of lie in her words which, in her opinion, was pretty pointless. They both knew, lying had never been something Brittany could pull off or was very comfortable with. It was part of the reason she was nicknamed Snowflake - expose her to any sort of heat and she melted. But seeing her Mother forget this, showed that it was important and wanting to be done with the conversation, she remained superfluously stoic.

"Fine. I believe you."

"Thank you!" Brittany exclaimed and dramatically threw her hands out as though she were appealing for witnesses.

Her mother laughed at her exaggeration and playfully pushed Brittany's shoulder. The atmosphere lightened and a sense of relief shrouded them both.

"I'm sorry, Snowflake but I did have to ask. And this is still something we need to address even if you do feel fine now. People don't just get up and flee a place they're comfortable with and then be found unconscious in the freezing cold. I'm going to book you an appointment and we're going to get some tests done and we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Brittany collapsed the muscles holding up her head and let it fall against the headrest, "Mum, I hate hospitals and Doctors and needles and questions." She whined petulantly, "I'm fine! I promise! It was probably just the heat! You know I don't do well in the heat! And they pump that place with so much heat that I feel like an overdone cupcake!"

"Well hunny, you're my cupcake," her mother chucked, "And besides, it would make me feel a whole lot better. I couldn't live with myself if I let this go and something went wrong. Let me be sure."

"Ugh, fine..." Brittany complained, "Now, I just wish I had been on drugs."

"Hey! We do not joke about that." Her Mother half-heartedly chastised.

Brittany returned a half-hearted apologetic smile. She resumed a more upright position and stretched out the stress of the morning. Her mother got up from where she had been sitting and started making her way towards the door. Brittany watched her leave only to realise she had been unconscious and that irrational panic of not knowing the time, set in about her.

"Wait, Mum! What time is it?"

Her mother turned to face her whilst simultaneously opening the door and tilted her head. "Eh, I think it's a little after 7, why?"

"In the morning?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Uhmm School?" Brittany said, not understanding how that wasn't obvious. She swung her legs out of her bed and made her way over to her wardrobe.

Watching, her Mother let go of the door handle and made a couple of quickened steps towards her. "Brittany, you don't have to go in today. You should rest. I know you feel fine but your body is obviously needing a day or two of rest. Your teachers will understand."

Brittany rolled her eyes at her mother's objections. Usually she wouldn't mind a couple of days out of Hell; in fact often she wished for it. But that uneasiness hadn't left her. That awareness of the amnesic memory, trapped in her own mind's stubbornness was still there. She had ignored the gnawing and did her best to suppress her own curious worry for the sake of her Mother but she needed to know. She couldn't sit here all day, torturing herself with ignorance. Diluting the truth with fabricated explanations and plausible place holders. Whatever the truth was, she wasn't going to find it in a Netflix marathon.

"No, Mum, I know. But I don't want to just sit here all day feeling fine. I'll be bored and lonely."

"Well, I can stay with you? Hmm? I can phone work and let them know what's going on. I could even try and get that appointment for today and then after we can watch a few movies? Eat some junk food?"

Her Mother said this with her voice building like it was the most increasingly exciting idea that had ever been concocted and Brittany could visibly see her being convinced by her own words. Brittany on the other hand couldn't think of anything worse and knew that if she didn't shut it down, it would most likely happen. She didn't want to come clean about why she wanted to go to school but she also knew that lying wasn't an option. All she could do was appeal to her Mother's rational side and hope that a redacted form of the truth would be enough.

"Jesus. Mum, please no. Don't call in sick to work when there is none sickness to be had here. I'm fine, really. And the appointment can wait. If I go in, I can talk to Jett and Artie and see if there is anything that might help figure out what happened, ye know? Something that I can possibly tell the Doctors?"

She could see her mum accepting what she was saying. Pandering to what her Mother was most concerned about was always the way to go. She was wavering and it showed.

"And besides," Brittany continued, fussing with a jumper she had taken from the wardrobe. "I want to find who found me. It was probably dumb luck since it was in the middle of the evergreens and anyone decent would have done the same thing and helped me but I want to know who it was. I want to find them and thank them."

"Oh well, it was a couple of boys in your year, I think. I talked to them yesterday when they called me down to the school."

"You did? Who was it?"

"Awk two lovely boys. Quite tall, very handsome. What was their names again?" Her Mother wondered to herself whilst Brittany busied herself tying together an outfit. "Oh, I know! Mike Chang and Noah something. You know them?"

At the names her mother recalled, Brittany looked up from her task. Mike Chang and Noah something? She had never heard those names. She knew the names of pretty much everyone in her year and if they were as tall and as handsome as her Mother seemed to think, she would know them even if they were in the years below.

"No."


	4. Chapter 4

_Apologies for taking so long with the upload but I hope you can stick with me. There will be plenty of Brittana in the next chapter._

 _Feel free to review and tell me what you think so far._

 _Thank you._

* * *

"Mike Chang..." Brittany whispered to herself in thought, "Noah... something."

The names meant nothing to her. They were just names. But how could she not know them if they were students? Or how could she know them? Her Mother might have confused them as students when in actuality they were complete strangers. Although... then surely that would have been mentioned? Wouldn't they have given a story as to how they found her or as to why they were in the evergreens?

An irked sigh fell from her lips and she continued drawing nonsense on the notepad open in front of her. After her Mother seeing reason and allowing her to attend school on the condition that she drove her, Brittany had taken up sanctuary under the old tree that grew on their campus. The abscission of its leaves was long over and it now stood bear, towering nakedly over heads of the students. The ground was dusted with a morning frost and the air smelled cold.

She didn't know why she was obsessing. It was completely probable that she didn't know the names of two students out of the entire student body. People fell under the radar all of the time. It wasn't like she was all that popular or attended that many events or was a member of that many clubs. The likelihood that these two people had just never crossed her path was quite high. So then why couldn't she shake the feeling that she should know them? Or more accurately, that she did.

Her amnesia started to itch at her. Poking her consciousness with frustrating fleeting memories of a day she couldn't remember. Every time a tickle of knowing rose up, rose so close to her being able to conceive it, it sunk back down below. It was verging on deliberate. Like she was supposed to be having these annoying moments of almost, to have them only ever be that.

She looked up from her doodling, out on to the campus in front of her. The mass of students was growing with every minute the clock ticked by. Any one of these people could be her John Doe's with names and no faces. Except they couldn't be. Because even though she wasn't close to knowing half of them personally, she recognised them. She had seen their faces in the hallways and sat next to them at football games. She had heard rumours about their personal lives and seen them celebrated for their academic ones. She knew this place. She knew the people. In a town like Lima, not much changes. The stagnation becomes the mundane and the mundane becomes the known.

Having been lost in her thoughts for however long, Brittany found herself not knowing what the time was again. She dug around in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Quarter to. Securing her phone back in its place, she began gathering her things and organising them into her bag. She stood up and brushed off the earth that clung to her whilst scanning the crowd for any sign of Jett or Artie. She had messaged them earlier to let them know where she was but hadn't received a reply. She knew she would see them at her locker or before class began but she wanted to meet up beforehand and get a report of the damage her 'freak out' had caused and what had actually happened.

Skimming the rosy features of her peers one last time, Brittany was about to abandon her hope of unwittingly rendezvousing with her friends, when a group of three caught her eye. No, they didn't just catch her eye, they arrested her attention.

They stood solitary, away from the usual herd. Two boys and a girl. They were looking towards the school so Brittany could only see the profile of the boys; the girl had her back turned. They were not the known and they were definitely not the mundane. However, they looked like every other group of teenage friends. Huddled close, talking, sharing, laughing. If it hadn't been for her searching, she probably wouldn't have even noticed them.

But she didn't know them. She had never seen them. And that could mean that those two boys could be the ones that helped her, right? Deductive reasoning certainly supported it. She should thank them.

"But what am I supposed to do?", Brittany questioned aloud "Just walk up to three complete strangers and be like, 'aw hey by any chance are you two boys the ones that found my unconscious body in the middle of the evergreens, after I apparently had an episode and ran from my classroom and away from my boyfriend?' That's ridiculous."

So instead, she just stood. She stood watching them, contemplating her options. Maybe they would be in one of her classes and she could start a casual conversation and she could bring it up? Or better yet, they might actually approach her so see if she is okay? I mean, they did find her knocked out and alone after all. Or at least, they possibly did.

Brittany continued to keep her distance to attentively observe the three without their knowledge. And, just as she was about to settle on walking away and hoping for their approach, the girl turned and her fugue flared. The watery image, the sunken knowledge boiled up and poured over her. It scorched every other thought and commanded her full attention. It struggled to appear wholly, it still couldn't fully form but it was fighting. It was fighting out and it was fighting up. It was like it had been called upon and it desperately wanted to obey.

It made her head swim and her eyes pang with the pressure but it wasn't necessarily painful. It was bearable, a little welcomed even. It meant that it was there. That she was close. That those people, that girl, were important to figuring out what happened. They were involved, they were key, they had to be.

With the promise of this prospect, Brittany's feet began to move. They fell into the practised act of walking without Brittany having to think it. She couldn't think it. Her head was too full. Her body was acting on behalf of what was filling her mind. It was taking instruction from it and she let it. Her feet moved quickly, picking up pace with every foot of distance she closed. Her eyes set on her destination. Her determination pushing her forward. She was growing closer and she could feel the lost memory rewarding her with flickers of colour and picture and sound. _Laughing_. She pushed on. _Brown eyes_. Onwards. _Fear_. _Ice_. _Evergreens_. This was it.

Suddenly, something snagged her arm and pulled her back. The clarity she was gaining started to rot, pieces of it began to fall, descending back into its water-like cage. She tried to resist whatever was holding her back and denying her from getting to her truth. She kept her eyes focused on the girl but the group was moving, heading inside. She tried to rip away, tried to hold on to the progress of the image her mind had painted but it was slowly drowning. With one last feeble attempt, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will it back. But it was gone and so was the girl.

With its disappearance, the trance like state followed and reality set back in around her. She stood where she was grounded, blinking away the mist and tried to reason what had just happened. But her thoughts were disrupted by an insistent calling of her name.

"Brittany!" Jett yelled again, "I said, hey Roadrunner!"

"What!?" Brittany snapped, turning on her heels to face her friend. She knew the anger she felt was uncalled for and that if anything, it was born more for herself.

At being met with the hostility, Jett jumped back with fright and surrendered her grip.

"Jesus, Snowflake. I'm sorry! I was just trying to get your attention." Jett explained. "I was calling on you before when you were standing under the tree. Usually you have creepy good hearing and can hear my sarcasm cooking before I even serve it but you just took off all Forest Gump style. I thought you were having another episode. Fuck."

In the process of her friend justifying why she stopped her, Brittany's senses had calmed. She identified the return of the soft blues and greys her world was usually painted in and could hear her heartbeat slow its rhythm before she even felt it. She hadn't even realised her senses had altered, that they had so peculiarly honed in on that girl, until now. Until she was taking back control. With a temperate breath, Brittany looked at her friend and saw that her cheeks were flush and her breath was raged. Her wavy hair was poking out through a bobble hat and had tints of winter caught in it. With repentance nagging her and affection encouraging her, she smiled apologetically and let out a small snort.

"Shit, sorry Jett. I didn't mean to jump down your throat there. My head is just a little 'bleugh' right now. It's probably just from the sound of your cynicism." She tried to joke.

Accepting the comedic apology, Jett chuckled.

"Yeah, no shit your head is bleugh. But I suppose that's to be expected after yesterday. Which leads me to ask, what in the Hell, and I mean that figuratively and literally, even happened?"

"Yesterday? I was kinda hoping you could tell me." Brittany replied with a breath lined in nervous laughter

"What? You mean you don't remember?"

"No. The last thing I remember is sitting in Kroll's class talking about Brett's party with Artie. Have you actually seen him by the way? I texted him but haven't heard back."

"No, he's probably got his wheel stuck in a pothole somewhere." Jett answered, waving her hand dismissively, wanting to get back to the events of yesterday. "How can you not remember? Were you high or something?"

"Why is everyone asking me that?" Brittany complained, exacerbated at the assumption.

Jett let out a surprised snicker. "Everyone? Ha! Who else thought you were high? Kroll? Your mum? Santa? You know, if you were, you'll be written off the nice list and etched in right at the top of the naughty, right"

"Haha, very cute." Brittany retorted sarcastically, "But yeah. My mum cornered me this morning and sat me down for what I thought was going to be the Sex Talk: Volume 2 but instead turned into an intervention for drugs."

Jett laughed loudly at the image and patted Brittany's shoulder with feigned sympathy. She then began walking towards the building and gestured for Brittany to follow.

"Ahhhh, Mrs Susan Pierce. I love that she fully believed her 18 year old, blemish free, perfectly blonde, big dancing freak of a daughter would just wake up one day and be like, 'Actually Mum, you know what? See instead of two lumps of sugar in my coffee this morning, can you just stir in this rock of crack instead? Thanks.'"

"You know perfectly well that that is probably exactly what she thought." Brittany laughed, pleased to be distracted by her friend's colourful banter. They reached the doors to Hell and echoed the steps, they performed five times a week. The pair opened the doors, manoeuvred through the hustle and bustle and made their way to their lockers.

"Britt, in all seriousness though, and I am going to try and do this without being a dick." Jett smiled, trying to alleviate any awkwardness, "Are you okay?"

Brittany stopped at her locker and looked at her friend affectionately. If she had anyone else as her best friend, anyone else at all, she wouldn't be able to put the girl that made her head swim and the boys with the names and no faces to the back of her mind. But Jett made it so easy. She had this way about her, where you were constantly comfortable and amused and intrigued.

"Honestly...?" Brittany pondered.

She considered confessing her weird almost interaction with the suspected new students but it would only sound insane and part of her genuinely thought or reasoned that it was all in her head. She considered repeating the flashing images she had seen when the girl turned but really? What sense would they make? Her own head couldn't even construct them fully, never mind trying to explain them with words to someone as sceptical as Jett.

"I don't know." Brittany continued. "I mean, physically? Yeah, I am. There's not a single scratch on me. I don't think I was out for too long because apparently two boys in our year found me after about an hour. I just, I don't know why I can't remember anything. I don't know why I ran. It's kinda frustrating and honestly; a little scary, ye know?" Brittany confessed, her attention moving straight to her locker and fiddling with her padlock combination.

She could see out the corner of her eye, her friend looking at her with a sort of loving sympathy that Brittany knew wouldn't be verbalised. Jett wasn't great with vulnerable feelings, she never had been. She never vocalised the love, everyone knew she had for those she held close. She was never the girl at a party to sit with the drunken sad sack and coach them through their intoxicated and inflated feelings. She never cried at movies or gushed about love songs. No. She was rather withdrawn from those areas in life.

But that wasn't to say, she was wasn't comforting, that she wasn't open to those things. She was actually amazing when it came to it. Her shyness or her reluctance to participate in such things herself made it so that someone else could. It made it so someone could fully express every detail of what they were feeling and it wouldn't be complicated or interrupted by her own. It was like she had banned herself from it so that she could welcome more of everyone else's, so she could fully empathise with whatever it was they were feeling. It was her very own way of being supportive and it made it so that she become a rock, a confidant and a living breathing journal to which everyone close to her trusted more than themselves.

Jett reached out and patted Brittany's shoulder as she spoke, a reassuring expression consuming her face. "Well… at least now you have a great excuse to get out of the fucking headache that is 'Math Mates!'. A series of nightmarish partnerships that Kroll, by the way, has put together to help further our studies, since everyone pretty much failed his last pop quiz. You can just say you're deathly allergic to his embarrassing attempts to be creative in his job when he is, in fact, just a large, calloused calculator and that is why you had to flee… to ensure that your life continued."

Brittany let out a laugh. "Jesus. Math Mates? Really?"

"Yeah." Jett sighed with a whine. "After your great escape and everyone calmed the fuck down he pulled names out a fucking hat and now I'm stuck with that weird guy, ye know? The one that's always chewing on something that you hope is gum but you know really is his oversized slobbery tongue. Ugh, karma appears to think I owe it something."

Brittany just continued to laugh, relieved in Jett's company as she opened her locker and prepared her bag for the day. At the familiar task her mind jumped back to earlier. "Yeah, I meant to say! The two boys that found me? My Mum said they were students here. Mike Chang and Noah something? Is it just me or do you not know those names either?"

Brittany watched as her friend's face reflected a moment of thought and then spark with recognition instantly. "Yeah, eh I met them yesterday when Figgins came to tell me that you had been found and that you were alive and everything. Puckerman, I think his name is. Yeah, they're transfer students from somewhere in Arizona. Them and this girl that's in our Maths class, which you are fucking lucky enough to call your Math Mate. They were out tree hugging or something when they came across you." Jett explained with her own phantom reasoning and slight hint of disdain. "I think they're all like adoptive brothers and sisters or something which is kinda weird but may I say, for the record and I want this on the most permanent kind there is, hot damn!"

"What?" Brittany questioned with a chuckle.

"Brittany, oh my god, they're all like ridiculously good looking, I shit you not. I don't know who the parents are but I'm pretty sure instead of like collecting stamps, they're just collecting gorgeous orphans from every race there is. I mean like th-"

Brittany stopped listening and drowned out the rest of what her friend continued to say as suddenly, as clear and as tangible as the bag she was holding and the ground she stood on, she saw them. Deep, brown eyes. The eyes with a fire lit behind them, the eyes with a blazing scourge, with a melancholy. Her mind offered the memory up like a gift, like a reward she had earned. They were so distinct in her own mind's eye.

"That's it", she thought, "That's when it happened."

She remembered now. Not everything, but she remembered the girl with the eyes. She knew now, why she recognised her earlier in the yard. They had spoken. Briefly. She had sat next to her, on the chair she had reserved for Jett. She had asked if it was occupied; Brittany had given it to her. She remembered being so overcome with the girls stare, so… bashfully petrified. But that was it. Like before, the memories struggled to surface. After the girl sits down, the pictures ripple into pieces.

"Yoo-hoo, Brittany!"

The sound of Jett's voice pulled Brittany out of her submission and back into the hallways of McKinley. She blinked and then blinked a few times more realising how dry her eyes were. She refocused on the girl in front of her and coughed to clear her throat.

"Jesus, Brittany, are you sure you're okay?" Jett asked, worry now beginning to crease her forehead. "I mean, I was just in the middle of telling you how I think my vagina is genuinely in love with each one of these new guys and you just shut down like someone had unplugged you."

Brittany took a moment and just looked at her friend as she processed her words. "Yeah, sorry. I just think I remembered something. The girl. The transfer student? I think I spoke to her before I blacked out and took off."

"… Okay." Jett said, expressing her misunderstanding in the way she prolonged the word. "And do you think that's relevant to what happened?"

"Maybe? I mean, I do remember starting to feel really weird when she spoke to me."

Jett sniggered. "Well yeah, I mean she's so incredibly hot that you probably knocked yourself up a few points on the Kinsey scale and wished for her to scald you. But seriously, if you're beginning to remember, even if it's your libido refreshing and replenishing your memories, that's good, right?"

"Right." Brittany reluctantly agreed, ignoring the comment about her having feelings for the girl with the eyes. She wasn't even able to picture the girls face. She had been so distracted with her eyes that everything surrounding them appeared blurry. But that didn't matter. Her appearance wasn't important. She didn't need to know what she looked like in order to find her again. She would recognise those eyes anywhere and if she was the last thing she remembered, then she was going to be the first place Brittany looked for her lost memories.

With that last thought, the bell rang signalling the beginning of the school day.


	5. Chapter 5

'Uneventful' was how Brittany had described her day when her mother had called to ask how it was going and to inform her of a Doctor's appointment she had made for Brittany after school. 'Uneventful' was the perfect word. But, she supposed after yesterday, it really couldn't have amounted to much else. Expecting some peculiar sequel to that day's events was really just quite foolish, especially since she wasn't even sure what it was that happened. So, all day, Brittany had been merely going through the motions. Attending her scheduled classes, conversing and joking around with Jett, answering "Yes, I'm fine" to every Tom, Dick and Harry that had all of a sudden decided that they were in fact really good friends. Their concern was of course real and not a form of disguise they wore to dig up the dirt on what had happened, to dish out like candy around the proverbial water cooler.

But no matter how routine she played it, she couldn't get the image of a certain pair of sonorous, brown eyes out of her head. They were branded into the very forefront of her mind. Every time she so much as blinked, they flashed along the inner lids of her eyes like the numerical countdown to an old film. They plagued her. And because of this, she had spent most of her day searching the masses of students she passed through, trying to find them. To match them up with a student she knew was here. That she knew was in attendance.

However, much to Brittany's dismay, she had yet to make an appearance.

This is what confused Brittany the most. That somehow an apparently very attractive, very new upperclassmen had somehow managed to elude all and any attention and her sprinted walkabout (as Jett has so imaginatively depicted it) had everyone on edge. Whenever she had brought the girl with the eyes up in conversation, no one knew who she was speaking of or if they did, they hadn't seen her. It made no sense.

It was beginning to discourage Brittany. She knew that she had to meet her again, to speak with her. She had to confirm details or do something, anything because as crazy as it sounded, Brittany knew Santana was part of the reason as to why what happened yesterday, happened. She couldn't necessarily justify how she knew or even hypothesise an explanation, she just recognised in her gut that she was right.

She stood at her locker, pretending to be busy with the emptying and refilling of her bag whilst carefully scanning the ever changing tide of her peers. Her eyes perused each set of theirs, blinking to refresh the image so to not lose clarity on who she was hunting for. But her concentration was broken by the sound of her boyfriend's voice requesting her attention.

She turned to see Artie wheeling towards her at a moderate but desperate speed. She smiled. The sight of him always did make her smile.

"Hey." She started as she closed her locker and made her way over to greet him.

"Brittany, oh my god, are you okay? I've been texting and calling you since this morning but you haven't replied. I called your Mum to see if you were in fact in school and she told me she had dropped you off this morning and had spoken with you earlier. I've been looking all morning. Where have you been?! Why haven't you messaged me back?!" His voice was ripe with tears but his face was thankful and Brittany couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for having neglected to update him. It wasn't that she was ignoring exactly, it was just that she had preoccupied.

"Artie, calm down, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I left my phone in my locker and this is the first chance I've had to come back for it after speaking with my Mum"

With that, his whole body sighed with relief but his eyes gave her the once over to check for any obvious injuries. Satisfied that there were none, he looked back up into hers and smiled.

"God, I was so worried. But you're okay? Have you been to the Doctors, what did they say? Do they know what happened?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine and not yet but I'm going after to school. Though I doubt they will be able to tell me what happened. I don't even know what happened. To be honest, I don't remember anything after talking with you in class." Brittany explained calmly. She had considered not telling Artie of her amnesic symptoms as she knew how much he would worry and how annoying his Wed MD searches would become but omitting things just now didn't seem that appealing considering her current state. "I was actually wondering if you would be able to tell me anything that could help?"

"Uhm, well I pretty much told your mum everything when I spoke with her yesterday. We were sitting in class just talking and then when the class started you … I don't know, freaked out? You sat there for about 5 minutes with your eyes screwed shut and your fists balled and when I tried to reach for you, you turned to me like I was something to be afraid of. Your eyes were weird looking, like the colour had been drained from them. I didn't know what to do and then you just ran out. I tried to go after you but Kroll stopped me. I'm really sorry."

Brittany listened carefully to each of his words and nodded. She tried to fit them in any of the spaces that were free in her mind. But it was impossible. It was like trying to complete a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of a clear blue sky. She took a breath and tried to still the frustration that was growing in her. How could she still not remember? How could none of these words, these descriptions resonate? How does a person go from being completely normal and fine to freaking-out and then forgetting it?

She could feel tears lining her bottom eyelids, building up like a clear brick wall, distorting her vision. It was getting to her. This whole fucking episode. This whole fucking thing that she couldn't remember. Part of her knew that she was safe, that nothing terrible had happened but the not knowing for yourself was infuriating. Having to have people explain to you what you did, what you looked like, how they think you felt. It made her want to scream at them. Of course she knew it wasn't their fault but having nothing or no one to blame was only fuelling her frustration. However, she knew if she did, it would just cause more problems than it would solve. Especially since she knew that an answer, maybe not THE answer, lay with a certain brown eye girl.

"Hey, hey, come here." She heard Artie coo. "It's okay. Or it will be, I promise." He reached up for her arm and lightly guided her to sit on his lap. She buried her head into the nook of his neck and breathed him in. It calmed her, slightly. The smell of his fabric softener was familiar and she could remember the first time she had noticed it. It was nice to be able to remember something for a moment.

"It's going to be okay. I was up all night looking up possible causes on Web MD." At this Brittany scoffed, half amused at how she knew that would be his first reaction. "And a lot of them were suggesting that it could be stress related. I mean, you do have a lot on your plate just now and you probably just got a little overwhelmed. But, that's fine, ye know? You will go to the Doctors and they will help figure it all out and then we can get you back on your feet." He joked, poking fun at her current curled up position.

Brittany chuckled and nodded against him. "I'm sorry for not texting you back, I've just not known what to say and I was just trying to concentrate on pretending everything was normal but all day people have been asking me about it and I just didn't really want to talk about it anymore." Brittany confessed.

"Hey, that's okay" He reassured her. "You don't have to apologise for anything. You had a weird day and you shouldn't be worrying about me. It's my job for now to worry about you, okay?"

Brittany smiled again and hummed in reply.

"Good. Okay, now we had better get to Kroll's class. I don't know if Jett told you but we have this new 'learning system' in place where we have to work in pairs. It has been so eloquently named 'Math Mates!" Artie laughed slightly.

"Yeah, she did mention that in a slightly ranting way."

And then Brittany stopped. She replayed the conversation she had had earlier with Jett in her head and in amongst the ranting, she remembered that Jett had said Brittany had been paired with the new girl. With Santana. At this realisation, Brittany shot up off of Artie's lap and grabbed the bag she had abandoned at the foot of her locker. This was it. She would get to see her again. She would maybe finally get some answers.

"Woah! Okay. I've never seen you this excited for Maths." Artie teased. "Have you forgotten how much you hate it as well and that's why the sudden burst of enthusiasm?"

"Haha!" Brittany retorted and smacked him lightly with her bag. "Come on or I'll leave you both here physically and then emotionally in our relationship." She said with a tight mordant smile.

He laughed at what he thought was the return of her light-hearted spirit but when he looked back up at her, he saw her eyebrows arched and her face challenging him to just try and see if she were joking.

"Ouch." Artie said, trying to feign hurt but secretly slightly terrified so when Brittany turned on her heels, he wheeled obediently after the hastened pace of his girlfriend.

Before reaching the threshold of the classroom, Brittany slowed her pace to one that she reasoned to be quite normal and turned to wait on Artie as she held open the door. After he entered, she followed closely behind him and skimmed the faces of the students to try and locate the one she was looking for. But it wasn't there. With an irked grunt she said her temporary goodbyes to Artie and made her way to an empty desk for two. Most of the students were already seated in their pairs and were talking quietly amongst themselves. She chuckled at the sight of Jett sitting as far as possible from her partner and staring at him with what only could be described as a look of sheer disgust and utter fear.

Brittany took her seat and bent down to open her bag to look for the applicable materials she would need for the upcoming lesson. And as she was searching to what was coming to be of no avail, a voice broke her seclusion and winded her with anticipation.

"Hi. You're Brittany, right?"

The scruffy purr of her accent resonated instantly. The tone inspired recognition of who exactly it belonged to and just as easily as it had been forgotten, the conversation from yesterday came flooding back. It took a moment for Brittany to compose all of this into a demeanour that wouldn't spark worry from her fellow students again and slowly, she lifted her head to meet the eyes of the girl she had been looking for.

There they were. The brown eyes. Except they didn't have the same blaze in them that Brittany remembered them to have. They were softer, like a pool of milk chocolate. They were so pure and untainted with any other colour, except for the black rim that controlled the overflowing richness. It was like they were laden with such depth and sensation that anyone that looked into them, could fall and be stuck forever.

They were still just as captivating as she was beginning to remember but for a very different reason. And because of this, it allowed Brittany to actually look at the girl to whom they belonged.

And she was beautiful.

No, not beautiful. She was more than that. She was exquisite; adorable, breath-taking.

She was pulchritudinous.

Her long brunette hair curled perfectly over each of her shoulders with a slight bounce that is never usually seen in actual life. Her skin was tanned; similar to that of a bronze statue only softer and silkier. Her mouth was slight with a smirk that highlighted her cheekbones without taking away from or stretching out her naturally full lips. She wore a simple black dress that was accompanied by a white leather jacket that allowed the shape of her body to be accentuated. The dress stopped mid-thigh, revealing her naked legs that sloped down into a pair of knee high, high heeled boots. It was like her existence, if not seen and only heard of, would seem impossible.

It was with that thought that Brittany snapped out of her staring and realised that she _was_ possible and that she _was_ real because _she_ was standing right in front of her and had just asked a question which Brittany had yet to reply.

"Eh, yeah, sorry. Eh, yeah, that's me." Brittany stuttered with as much confidence as she could muster, trying to accompany her floundering with a smile that hopefully didn't look as uncomfortable as she actually was.

"Great. I'm Santana. We met yesterday?" she smiled.

"Yeah, I remember." Brittany replied with the truth of her sudden recollection.

Santana nodded at this and continued. "I don't know if anyone has said to you but we've been paired together for this study buddy thing."

"Yeah, Jett mentioned it earlier. And I think you mean 'Math Mates'?" Brittany challenged sarcastically, slowly forcing herself to become more comfortable.

This produced a small laugh from Santana and allowed Brittany to witness her full smile.

Beautiful.

She walked around the front of the desk to the chair on Brittany's right and took a seat, turning to continue their conversation. "Eh yeah, I'm not going to call it that. I do have some respect for myself"

"Fair enough." Brittany choked out, suddenly struggling to maintain composure at the loss of the safety the desk that separated them had provided.

The two girls fell into the silence that often accompanies two strangers. It isn't deliberately or necessarily awkward, it is just what happens when there is no known common ground or experience with a person. It's like a muted starting line, an unspoken social check point that must be checked off before any advancement on any relationship can be made.

So, they each continued to organise their materials within the heaviness of the silence, neither one acknowledging it. But Brittany started to see it as quite advantageous. Without the pressure of having to actually talk to Santana whilst looking at her, she was able to settle into the gravity of her presence. She quietly stole glances at her. At first it was subtle, using her peripherals to gage Santana's movements but she soon found herself turning her head more and studying her face quickly with her eyes. And then, she was just outright observing her. She noted the way she sat; poised with her legs crossed and admired the gracefulness she exuded with every shift in her position. She couldn't understand why she had this need to look at her. She couldn't tell if it was the curiosity behind the mysteries of yesterday or of it was just because of her. But there was something that was pulling all of her attention towards her, something she recognised but couldn't quite think from where.

Her wondering was quickly interrupted when Santana turned and caught her eyes, which caused Brittany to quickly revaluate what the fuck she was doing and look just slightly passed her as if the far right corner of the room was where her interests really lay. She could feel the blood rushing to her face, she could feel the concentrated heat on her cheeks and she knew she should say something. Something complimentary perhaps. Say she was pleased with her hair and that was why she was staring. Say it looked like good hair. Yeah, that could work. Girls say that to other girls, right?

But no, she just continued to stare at the dimly painted walls of the classroom hoping to block out the sight of Santana staring at her with an arced eyebrow and a quizzical look. She didn't understand why she was so embarrassed, why it felt like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. But all she knew is that the longer this continued, the more of her seemed to be slowly dying. Fuck it, end this. Just say her hair is shite. That could also work. That would relieve her of any awkward assumptions the girl was making about her. She could just be a bitch. A bitch that has certain hair standards and must voice her opinions when they are not met. But Brittany's deliberation about how to survive this situation she had stupidly created ended when a throat clearing cough indicated renewed conversation.

"So…" Santana began. "I wanted to actually ask how you are feeling, ye know, after yesterday. I don't want to bring it up if it's too personal or if you don't want to talk about it but I just wanted to make sure you are okay. My brothers told me about what happened so I don't really want to pretend like I don't know."

Her face didn't portray one that was just asking for the glory of gossip or to be in the know. She genuinely looked concerned and interested in Brittany's wellbeing. This made answering with "Yes, I'm fine" for the one hundredth time, not as grating as it had been all day.

"That's good, I'm glad." She smiled.

"Thanks." Brittany replied, pausing involuntarily and finding herself slipping into her one sided staring contest. She didn't even realise that she had until she saw Santana fidget faintly under her gaze which forced her into completing her sentence. "And could you actually do me a favour? Would you let your brothers know that I would love to thank them? I mean, they did kind of save my life and they deserve _at least_ that."

"Oh, really don't worry about it. You don't need to do that."

"Actually, I really do. Not just because I want to but if I go home to my Mum tonight and tell her that I didn't thank the people that rescued me from death, she will most definitely kill me and bury me in that forest, in the exact spot I was found." Brittany explained in complete seriousness. "She would love the irony of it all."

The sincere expression on Brittany's face elicited a genuine laugh from the brunette. "Then for your sake" Santana giggled "I'll be sure to let them know that they need to come find you to, I suppose, save your life a second time."

At the sound of her laughter, Brittney could feel her smile swell and her stomach flutter. She wanted to hear it again and the fact that she had caused it, made her smile even more. The two girls stared at each other for a moment, caught in a private understanding that they didn't notice Mr Kroll standing in front of them until a sheet of paper was laid on their desk.

"Okay, so girls, here is today's questions." He started, causing them to look up at him "I want you to work through them together and then hand them in at the end of the class or at the beginning of the tomorrows. Brittany, Santana can catch up you on what you missed yesterday." Brittany nodded her acknowledgment and looked at Santana to see her smiling supportively.

"And I'm glad you're okay Brittany" Mr Kroll continued "You gave us quite the fright yesterday."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just having a weird day" She explained, the feelings of embarrassment creeping up on her features.

"Don't be. As long as you're okay." he smiled. Mr Kroll tapped the desk with his knuckles, signalling the end of his instruction and turned to the next desk to do the same. Brittany let out a heavy breath and took the paper in her hands to look over and was amused at the fact that it wasn't just missing yesterday's lesson that would make completing these problems difficult, it was that all and any mathematics made it impossible for her.

"Okay so little confession here" Brittany began, nervously creasing the edge of the paper and scrunching her face up in apology "I am all kinds of horrible at all kinds of math and will be next to no help. So you may have to do most of the heavy lifting"

Santana chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I'm actually decent enough at this stuff that it won't be too difficult and then you can just make it up to me." She finished, smiling at what Brittany could only interpret as suggestively. At this her mouth fell slightly agog in preparation to reply but found that her throat had instantly dried up along with all the words she knew. Make it up to her? Was that flirting? Is she flirting? Why is she flirting?

"Uhm…"

"Ye know, you could let me know what's good to do around here on a Friday night. My family and I haven't been here long and the place doesn't look like it has much entertainment, if any, available to those of us under 21."

"Oh. Tell you what to do on a Friday night? Yeah, that's what I thought you meant, I'm just thinking." Brittany rattled out, mostly just to say something and hoping to divert attention from her increasingly reddening face. She took a second and looked up pretending to be in deep considerate thought as Santana began working on the questions. "There is actually a party tomorrow night that me and a couple of friends are going to if you want to come along?" She said in the hopes to maybe entice the girl's attendance.

"A party?"

"Yeah, they're usually quite fun. Brett Turner and his older brother throw these massive parties every time their parents go out of town. Their house is quite far from everywhere else and their nearest neighbours are like half a mile down the road so there's never any interruptions." Brittany quickly explained, trying to sell the idea.

"Yeah, my brother actually said something about that yesterday but I don't know…" Santana said, not looking up from her work.

At her reluctance, Brittany could feel inexplicable disappointment fall over her. "Well, if that's not really your scene there's always like bowling or the movies or ye know… the bingo." Brittany said, screwing up her eyes as that last suggestion fell out of her mouth and mentally slapping herself. Bingo? Really?

This made Santana laugh and refocus her attention on the blonde. "Well as much as a frat party may not be my thing, I don't know if I'm quite old enough for bingo to be either." Brittany nodded and fiddled with her pen, too upset with her new found idiocy to try and excuse or explain any of what she just said. "But I suppose" the brunette continued "if you're going and then that would mean I would know at least one person; I could probably check it out."

Brittany's head snapped up and she smiled at the brunette's agreement. "Okay, yeah great. Uhm, I can give you my number and you can text me and I can let you know what we're doing?"

"Sure."

They swapped numbers and for the rest of the class, they didn't say much else that didn't pertain to the math questions and for short periods, they didn't say anything at all. And it was in those moments that Brittany found it the most difficult to not be completely consumed by the girl sitting next to her.

She didn't understand why this girl made her feel like everything she said was the complete wrong thing or why her entire being seemed electrified by her presence. She tried to rationalise her reactions by convincing herself that she was just intrigued by the girl. That everything she was feeling was normal. That anyone who met Santana, probably felt the same and it was just her charm that evoked this kind of effect. That everyone felt that slight sense of being threatened, that slight sense of intimidation.

It was then that she felt it. The ache in her head. The struggling splash of a memory. Like before, she could feel its unrest, it's impatience at being forgotten. She held still so as not disrupt it, so as to not accidently deter it. It was there, shadowed under the blockage but it was there. It flashed once, only for a split second but it was enough. She saw it. She saw herself standing in the evergreens. She felt the breathlessness of her decreased panic as she looked down at her hand. A solid teardrop. She felt the disbelief she had when she had tried to melt it. She felt the confusion as to why it didn't. She felt the anxiety that had threatened to takeover when the pain of what she could reason was a sting from an insect hit her. And then, like before, blackness descended.

The sudden blast of the bell wrenched Brittany out of her submersion and abandoned her back into the reality at present. Around her, the students began collecting their books and making their way out to join the flood of people coursing through the hallway. At the normalcy of it all encompassing her, she felt the straining cry of stiffened pain in her hand. She looked down to see how tightly her fist was wrapped round her pen, the whiteness of her knuckles and began to slowly stretch out her fingers to flex life back into them.

And then she just continued to sit there. Her eyes spacey with thought. She remembered something. Not exactly what had had happened but something. A piece of the puzzle. A clue. A fragment of the truth. She had been crying. The teardrop was evidence to that. But why? No one had said she had been crying. Artie said that she had just freaked out. That she was fine up until she wasn't. And she never cried. She never really had much reason to. And the only reason she ever did was when she was scared or upset. And from the memory, she knew she wasn't saddened. She was terrified. Something had happened. But what? She didn't know. But whatever it was, it happened in this classroom and it had to have happened after Santana sat down.


End file.
